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Monthly Archives May 31, 2024

‘Upon Learning of Trump’s Conviction’ by UK Poet James Sale

The Society
May 31, 2024
Poetry, Satire
17 Comments
. Upon Learning of Trump's Conviction _America is big;__Does things in style:Like setting up a President__And rigging his trial. _America is small;__Does things with guile:No charge against the...

‘Phone Home’: A Poem on the Jodrell Bank Observatory, by Jeff Eardley

The Society
May 31, 2024
Culture, Humor, Poetry
19 Comments
. Phone Home I often talk to radio astronomers, The kind of guys who like to stay anonymous, Who chew on reams of stellar data every day From objects, many million, zillion miles away. In England’s fields,...

The Day After Trump’s Conviction: ‘God Knows’ by Susan Jarvis Bryant

The Society
May 31, 2024
Culture, Poetry
69 Comments
. God Knows Tomorrow’s torched and trampled on the street. __We hear the battle cry Of demons dancing to the Devil's beat __As truth and faith run dry. The skies are scorched with ever-rising heat __As hope...

A Sonnet for the 100th Anniversary of the Leopold and Loeb Case, by Adam Sedia

The Society
May 31, 2024
Culture, Poetry
22 Comments
. Leopold and Loeb Or, the Consequences of Ideas A Frenchman’s thought-experiments Argued by Englishmen until A German stripped pure thought from sense; A second then conceived the will; And last, a third...

‘Out Walking’: A Poem by Margaret Coats

The Society
May 30, 2024
Beauty, Poetry
33 Comments
. Out Walking I hear the heath alive to free A heart from hearthside reverie, _And with my rambling feet __Start out in stealth, Intent on sunnyside-up health _And daybreak flurry fleet. Let’s shake...

‘A Tiny Tabby’: A Poem by E.V. Wyler

The Society
May 30, 2024
Humor, Poetry
28 Comments
. A Tiny Tabby Beside our garden’s scalloped fence, where English Ivy’s vines are dense, we viewed an unexpected sight; a mini tiger, gold and white! This morning’s new, bewildered guest, abandoned here...

‘The Devotee’ by Jeffrey Essmann

The Society
May 29, 2024
Culture, Poetry
7 Comments
. The Devotee She moves from one devotion to the next, From this beloved statue to the text Of some obscure or justly famous saint Who’s good at whatsoever her complaint Parochial or personal may be That...

‘I Saw a Naked Wood Nymph’: A Poem by Roy E. Peterson

The Society
May 29, 2024
Humor, Poetry
25 Comments
. I Saw a Naked Wood Nymph I sat down in the forest, a picnic in the shade. I saw a naked wood nymph flitting across the glade. I dropped my sandwich there laying on the ground. I went to chase the wood...

‘Rising with the Sap’ and Other Poetry by Monika Cooper

The Society
May 28, 2024
Blank Verse, Dante, Poetry
18 Comments
. Rising with the Sap You would not call them blocks, those obscure streets Where people live. Their driftings trace the hem Of Manchester. I drove there once at dusk My windows down, in the sleepy perfume Of...

‘Surviving Caligula’: A Poem on the Roman Emperor, by Brian Yapko

The Society
May 28, 2024
Culture, Poetry
31 Comments
. Surviving Caligula Setting: Caligula’s Palace, the Palatine Hill, Rome Date: 23 January 794 Ab urbe condita (41 A.D.) The Matter: A Praetorian Guard contemplates Rome’s future under the Emperor...

A Sonnet for Harrison Butker, by Adam Sedia

The Society
May 27, 2024
Culture, Poetry
22 Comments
. Love and Vipers for Harrison Butker, the football player criticized for supporting traditional views of women in a commencement address How hated you are for proclaiming love---Not just your own, but love...

A Poem for an Orwellian Memorial Day, by Susan Jarvis Bryant

The Society
May 27, 2024
Culture, Poetry
44 Comments
. Memorial Day, 1984 2024 “War is peace. Freedom is slavery. Ignorance is strength.”  ---George Orwell Today we honor those who gave their all In monstrous conflicts in the name of peace; Those who...

‘The First and Usually Unspoken Rule of Great Writing’: A Poem by Phillip Whidden

The Society
May 27, 2024
Culture, Poetry
12 Comments
. The First and Usually Unspoken Rule of Great Writing The greatest rule of writing is to tell A truth, the truth if possible, within The scope of lines set out, to sound the knell Of honeyed feelings, not...

‘He Who Was’: A Poem by Warren Bonham

The Society
May 26, 2024
Beauty, Poetry
18 Comments
. He Who Was Omnipotence, omniscience __and there’s omnipresence too. If you possess those qualities, __there’s nothing you can’t do. Be here and there, both now and then, __while acing each exam. And...

‘I Never Do a Happy Dance’: A Poem by Lisa Marie Miller

The Society
May 26, 2024
Beauty, Humor, Poetry
8 Comments
. I Never Do a Happy Dance I never do a happy dance, Or look online to find romance, Speak my sentences upended, Or keep saying I’m offended, Check my email every hour, Never seeing tree or flower, Drink my...

‘Betrayal’ and Other Poems by Susan Jarvis Bryant

The Society
May 25, 2024
Culture, Pantoum, Poetry, Rondeau, Villanelle
21 Comments
. Betrayal a villanelle Today she spied the shadow of a snake Slither through the spreading family tree--- A curse her startled heart finds hard to take. She heard this serpent hiss. Though wide...

‘View from the Beach’: A Poem by Lucia Haase

The Society
May 25, 2024
Beauty, Poetry
11 Comments
. View from the Beach after Robert Frost’s "A Cliff Dwelling" Here hazy seems the azure sky and azure seems the hazy sea. One lone gull lends an echoed cry somewhere out there, a longing call. A faint mirage...

SCP Poet Lionel Willis (1932-2023) Passes Away

The Society
May 24, 2024
From the Society, Poetry
9 Comments
. The SCP has just learned of the passing of Canadian Member poet Lionel Willis on December 28, 2023. He had been contributing his work since 2021, starting after his wife passed away in 2020.  He is...

‘Eulogy to the First Ms. Brown’ and Other Poetry by Betsy K. Brown

The Society
May 24, 2024
Beauty, Culture, Poetry, Terza Rima
5 Comments
. Eulogy to the First Ms. Brown or a Divine Comedy of Educators . To my aunt—the second daughter of three, And first to leave us just two years ago: I picture you once sitting on Grandpa's knee And asking...

‘Just Off the Cuff’ and Other Poems by Stephen M. Dickey

The Society
May 24, 2024
Epigrams and Proverbs, Humor, Poetry
19 Comments
. 1. Just off the cuff, I’d cap the alcoholic swill __Before it calls your bluff and saps your will. . 2. The dead, although their tongues are somewhat tied, Might know already all you might...

‘Newman, Alone’: A Poem by Adam Wasem

The Society
May 23, 2024
Beauty, Culture, Poetry
15 Comments
. Newman, Alone Newman, thirty, alone, asleep in bed, Groans, yearning for his mother, years now, dead--- Alive, her vivid female acts above Had served as lodestar for his childish love. The women he’d...

‘Two Times Two Is Four’: A Poem by T.M.A. Day

The Society
May 23, 2024
Culture, Poetry
14 Comments
. Two Times Two Is Four Now Kierkegaard once wrote a book, __Entitled Either/Or, But for myself, I only know, __That two times two is four. For though the oceans brim with blood, __Foretold in ancient...

Three Love-Crossed Sonnets by James A. Tweedie

The Society
May 22, 2024
Culture, Love Poems, Poetry
21 Comments
. Unopened Letters Unopened letters strewn across the floor Addressed to me with your name on the back. Left where they fell inside my slotted door. A postal service-aided sneak attack. I step on them with...

‘The Cleft’ and Other Poetry by Gigi Ryan

The Society
May 22, 2024
Beauty, Culture, Poetry
10 Comments
. The Cleft There’s danger for the harmless dove; she swoops Into the cleft of the great mountainside. Her heartbeat calms as she keeps still and mute Surrounded by the rock where she abides. If from her...

‘Dandelions’: A Poem by Cynthia Erlandson

The Society
May 21, 2024
Beauty, Poetry
34 Comments
. Dandelions “...all the days of his vain life, which he passes like a shadow....” ---Ecclesiastes 6: 12 . ____As I stepped out one morning, ____I saw across the lawn ____A yellow audience...

A Poem Based on Joshua Harris’s I Kissed Dating Goodbye, by Joshua C. Frank

The Society
May 21, 2024
Beauty, Culture, Poetry
23 Comments
. Chelsea a true story from I Kissed Dating Goodbye by Joshua Harris “Behold not everybody's beauty: and tarry not among women.” ---Ecclesiasticus (Sirach) 42:12 That long-skirt, apple-pie brunette from...

Two Poems Inspired by Shakespeare Quotations, by Joseph S. Salemi

The Society
May 20, 2024
Beauty, Poetry, Shakespeare
25 Comments
. Miss Crespo’s Halloween Give me the daggers. The sleeping and the dead Are but as pictures; ‘tis the eye of childhood That fears a painted devil. —Shakespeare, Macbeth, Act II, Scene 2 Silhouettes in...

‘AI’s Promise’ and Other Poetry by Daniel Kemper

The Society
May 20, 2024
Culture, Poetry
24 Comments
. AI's Promise What is the latest ingenious ability makers have made out as mental agility? Smoothly unveiling the newest utility, __though it effusively services whims, it reveals our fragility __more than...

‘King George III Declares War’ from Vol. 2 of Andrew Benson Brown’s Mock Epic Poem

The Society
May 19, 2024
Epic, Humor, Poetry
17 Comments
. King George III Declares War from Legends of Liberty, Volume 2 Note: The British have won a pyrrhic victory at Bunker Hill. King George, who has been showing some erratic personality quirks since being...

Poems About Doing the Dishes, by Julian Woodruff

The Society
May 18, 2024
Humor, Poetry, Song Lyrics
18 Comments
. Dishing Out Advice Why are there always dishes in the sink? So lazy and undisciplined. You’d think they might show just a little more respect and know that household members will object. But there they...

‘He Lied About His Age’: A Poem by Joyce E. Rogers

The Society
May 18, 2024
Beauty, Culture, Poetry
9 Comments
. He Lied About His Age 'Twas May of nineteen seventeen, our country now at war. Will had decided to enlist, this great world to explore. His lifetime numbered sixteen years, he'd lie about his age, His build...

‘Saturn’: A Poem by Alan Orsborn

The Society
May 17, 2024
Culture, Poetry, Villanelle
14 Comments
. Saturn "When we have shuffled off this mortal coil" —Shakespeare "According to medieval thought, the worst planet was Saturn,  sponsor of death, destruction, darkness, and disaster." —Michael Ward When...

A Poem for the 30th Anniversary of the Rwandan Genocide, by Paul A. Freeman

The Society
May 17, 2024
Culture, Poetry
27 Comments
. Rwanda, April 1994 Inside Nyamata Church the pews are piledwith clothes, the blood that drenched them dull and dry.What demon turned sane men and women wildwith bloodlust that ten thousand here would die? A...

‘An Incomplete Account of How Things Are’ and Other Poetry by C.B. Anderson

The Society
May 16, 2024
Beauty, Poetry
28 Comments
. An Incomplete Account of How Things Are __From where I drift, One hundred meters from the shore, The elemental thunderous roar __That’s falling swift __Is but a sigh That whispers thoughts into my...

‘Herman the Cripple’: A Poem by Margaret Coats

The Society
May 16, 2024
Culture, Music, Poetry
44 Comments
. Herman the Cripple A body helpless in deformity Was mine, though loving parents carried me Full seven years in sick infirmity, Then placed me in the monks’ academy. Their island abbey Reichenau became My...

‘Go Woke, Go Broke’ and Other Poems by Russel Winick

The Society
May 15, 2024
Poetry, Satire
22 Comments
. Go Woke, Go Broke Sports Illustrated’s prize was doing great. Big bucks each year from the swimsuit edition. But then it seemed keen to alienate Its loyal customers with a new mission--- Put old, or fat,...

‘The Dead’: A Poem by Jeffrey Essmann

The Society
May 15, 2024
Culture, Poetry
12 Comments
. The Dead They’re pretty but the dopamine Has hollowed out their pale blue eyes. They sit there, staring, silent, numb, (They only need to move their thumb…) Intent upon the tiny screen. There’s no...

‘And Yet We Wash Our Hands’: A Poem by Roy E. Peterson

The Society
May 14, 2024
Beauty, Culture, Poetry
25 Comments
. And Yet We Wash Our Hands When Pilate saw that he was getting nowhere, butthat instead an uproar was starting, he took waterand washed his hands in front of the crowd. “I aminnocent of this man’s...

‘Look Homeward, Sweet Afton’: Poem by Brian Yapko, Set to Music by Jeff Eardley

The Society
May 14, 2024
Beauty, Culture, Music, Poetry, Song Lyrics
32 Comments
. Music by Jeff Eardley . Look Homeward, Sweet Afton after Robert Burns Look homeward, Sweet Afton, back to thy green braes, Recalling with pride Britain’s glorious days. Then forward flow strongly, I pray...

Book Review: What Was and Is—Formal Poetry and Free Verse by Theresa Werba

The Society
May 13, 2024
Poetry, Reviews
5 Comments
. Book Reviewed: What Was and Is---Formal Poetry and Free Verse, by Theresa Werba, Bardsinger Books, April 2024 by James A. Tweedie With What Was and Is—Formal Poetry and Free Verse, Theresa Werba (formerly...
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  1. Joseph S. Salemi on ‘Kissing Cousin’ and Other Poems by Joseph S. SalemiMay 24, 2025

    Well, you know more about these seven different types than I do. If philautia is self-love, then it is a…

  2. Margaret Coats on ‘Wedding Night’ by Christine de Pisan, Translated by Margaret CoatsMay 24, 2025

    Thank you, Roy. The fine young husband's name is Estienne [Stephen] de Castel. He and Christine were happy for ten…

  3. Frank Rable on ‘Kissing Cousin’ and Other Poems by Joseph S. SalemiMay 24, 2025

    Okay. I will ask this as a student to the professor, and absolutely no criticism is intended. When first hearing…

  4. Cynthia L Erlandson on ‘What the Caterpillar Calls the End’: A Poem by Scharlie MeeuwsMay 24, 2025

    This is beautiful! My favorite lines were "Wrapped in a thread the dusk supplied." ; "But Time, that patient artisan";…

  5. Margaret Coats on ‘Sumo’s Winning Ways’ by Margaret CoatsMay 24, 2025

    Thanks, Warren. Glad I noticed this just as 24-year-old Onosato won the May tournament with two days of fighting yet…

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